Let Me Introduce You to My Donkey

Life with a Donkey
(c) The Writing Well

This blog title, Life with a Double Buggy, was inspired by my recent transition from a single to a double pram when my third son was born last October. Before we actually bought a double buggy we weighed up the options.

We considered if carrying the baby for a while everywhere was an option until my middle son grew out of the pram but quickly ascertained that the medical bills for damaged backs would probably amount to more than the cost of a pram. So we turned our attention to the type of double pram to buy. It turns out you can get all sorts of shapes and sizes (and prices) of prams to transport two small children: ferrying them around underneath each other - a sort of bunk bed pram, side by side and in front of each other. In the end it was a question of wide or long, and we chose for wide. We chose a Bugaboo Donkey. We discussed, and hesitated and discussed again (they cost more than most people's first car) but after a test ride on the test tracks at Baby Park we dived in and signed on the dotted line for a Donkey.

The Donkey was delivered. The Donkey was (with some sweat and tears) put together. The Donkey was occupied by my toddler and new born and we braved the streets. Those living in the Netherlands will know that nothing here is particularly big. Roads are not big. Pavements are not huge. Supermarkets are not massive (even the supposedly XL ones pale into insignificance compared to counterparts in the UK, France and US). You get the picture. I need space with my buggy. Space which in most ordinary day to day places just doesn't exist.

Therefore getting my Donkey around has been a challenge in some places. A good example is my eldest son's school. I used to zip through the nearest entrance to the school playground with the single pram. Now to avoid massacring my toddler's arm on the prickly hedge next to the entrance I have to walk around to the next entrance at the front of the school where my double buggy can actually safely pass thorough the barriers. I have to detour.

The blog title is synonymous with life after the birth of my third child; "Life with a Double Buggy" has meant rethinking normal, every day tasks. It throws up challenges. It has made me a little more creative with my time, how I get things done and set priorities. "Life with a Double Buggy" means manoeuvring a little differently - both in life and in the local supermarket!